Chevron All Smiles over St. Malo Production Test in Gulf of Mexico

Chevron Corporation announced Thursday that it had conducted a successful production test on the St. Malo PS003 well in the prolific Lower Tertiary trend in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Oil flow rates, though limited by testing equipment constraints, exceeded 13,000 barrels of oil per day.

The test, in Walker Ridge Block 678, targeted Lower Tertiary sands more than 20,000 feet (6,096 meters) under the sea floor and was conducted during August and September 2012. This is the first development well in the St. Malo field, which is being jointly developed with the Jack field.

"The well test is a further demonstration of the potential of the Lower Tertiary and highlights our leadership in developing deepwater resources globally," said Chevron Vice Chairman George Kirkland.

"The results of this production test further confirm the significance of the St. Malo field," said Gary Luquette, president, Chevron North America Exploration and Production Company. "The jointly developed Jack and St. Malo fields are expected to provide a major step-up in Chevron's production from 2014 and produce domestic energy for decades to come."

The Jack and St. Malo fields are located within 25 miles (40 kilometers) of each other and are being jointly developed with a host floating production unit located between the two fields in 7,000 feet (2,134 meters) of water, approximately 280 miles (450 kilometers) south of New Orleans, Louisiana. The facility is planned to have a design capacity of 177,000 barrels of oil-equivalent per day to accommodate production from the Jack/St. Malo development, which is estimated at a maximum total daily rate of 94,000 barrels of oil-equivalent, plus production from third-party tiebacks. Total project costs for the initial phase of the development are estimated at $7.5 billion.

Chevron has a working interest of 51 percent in the St. Malo field. Other owners of the St. Malo field are Petrobras (25 percent), Statoil (21.5 percent), ExxonMobil (1.25 percent) and ENI (1.25 percent).

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